Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/151

 The dreadful shell panchajanya, of the great shankhe, or shell-*fish, whose roar re-echoed from earth to heaven, was used by Krishn[)u] as his trumpet.

So devoted were the gopīs to Krishn[)u] the beloved, that if he wished to ride an elephant, the lovely ladies, with most extraordinary dexterity, assumed the shape of the animal and bore him off in triumph. The frontispiece to the second volume, entitled "Kaniyā-jee and the Gōpia," is a fac-simile of an old Hindoo painting commemorative of this feat: the style in which the figures are grouped is very clever, and does much credit to the artist; the original is as highly finished as a miniature painting. The chatr, the emblem of royalty, is borne over his head; peacock's feathers form the ornament for his fore-*head; and in his hand is the ankus (the elephant goad) and a lotus flower. The gopīs carry with them their musical instruments; they are adorned with jewels, and the tail of the animal shows the beauty and length of their hair.

The second plate of Kaniyā-jee represents the victorious Heri on a steed formed of the gopīs, bounding and capering beneath their precious burden, while their musical instruments and songs enliven his triumphal career. This is also a fac-simile of an old Hindoo painting, finished with wonderful delicacy and minuteness.

I have a third painting, Krishn[)u], represented in a palanquin formed of the gopīs, in which the arrangement and grouping of the sportive damsels is graceful and elegant. At the festival of the Huli, which is particularly dedicated to Kaniyā, images of the god are carried about on elephants, on horses, and in palanquins, doubtless in commemoration of his sports with the gopīs; in fact, there was no end to their fooleries and diversions at Brindāban, the forest Brindā in the vicinity of Mathura?] on the banks of the Jumna. Krishn[)u] is always represented of a dark cerulean blue colour (nila), hence his name Nila-nath, and he bears a lotus in his hand. Under the title of Heri, in funeral lamentations, his name only is invoked, and Heri-bol! Heri-bol! is emphatically pronounced by those bearing a corpse to its final destination.